Lucy Consulting Engineers

Exercise

1. Consider conditions in Example 4.2. Evaluate the effect of the design

reliability (R), standard deviation (So), and ∆PSI on the structural number
(SN) and in turn on the required base thickness.
a. R (%) = 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, and 95. Plot reliability versus SN and base
thickness.
b. So = 0.30, 0.35, 0.40, 0.45, and 0.50. Plot standard deviation versus SN
and base thickness.
c. ∆PSI = 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, and 3.0. Plot ∆PSI versus SN and base
thickness.
d. What are the implications of increasing the above indicators on asphalt
the pavement thickness design?
e. Assuming the traffic count and trend are unaffected. What typical
value of the above indicators would you recommend if the pavement
is constructed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia?

2. Consider conditions in Example 4.5. Evaluate the effect of the design

reliability, standard deviation, ∆PSI, concrete’s modulus of rupture (Sc),
concrete’s modulus of elasticity (Ec), and load transfer coefficient (J) on
the required slab thickness.
a. R (%) = 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, and 95. Plot R versus slab thickness.
b. So = 0.30, 0.35, 0.40, 0.45, and 0.50. Plot So versus slab thickness.
c. ∆PSI = 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, and 3.0. Plot ∆PSI versus slab thickness.
d. Sc (lb/in2) = 100, 200, 400, 600, 800, 1000, and 1200. Plot Sc versus slab
thickness.
e. Ec (106 lb/in2) = 3.0, 3.5, 4.0, 4.5, 5.0, 5.5, 6.0, 6.5, and 7.0. Plot Ec
versus slab thickness.
f. J = 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, 3.0, 3.2, and 3.5. Plot J versus slab thickness.
g. What are the implications of increasing the above indicators on
concrete pavement thickness design?
h. Assuming the traffic count and trend are unaffected. What typical
value of the above indicators would you recommend if the pavement
is constructed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia?

3. Consider the traffic conditions in Example 4.5. Suppose a 10-inch slab was
used and all other parameters are as described in Example 4.5. What
would the design life be if the drainage coefficient was 0.8, and what
would it be if it was 0.6?

4. An engineer plans to replace the rigid pavement in Example 4.5 with a

flexible pavement. The chosen design has 6 inches of sand-mix asphalt
wearing surface, 9 inches of soil-cement base, and 10 inches of crushed
stone subbase. All drainage coefficients are 1.0 and the soil resilient
modulus is 5000 lb/in2. If the highways traffic is the same (same axle
loadings per vehicle as in Example 4.5), for how many years could you be
95% sure that this pavement will last? (Assume that any parameters not
given in this problem are the same as those given in Example 4.5.)

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5. Consider the conditions in Example 4.6. Suppose all of the parameters are
the same, but further soil tests found that the modulus of subgrade
reaction was only 150 lb/in3. In light of this new soil finding, how would
the design life of the pavement change?

6. Consider the conditions in Example 4.6. Suppose all of the parameters are
the same, but a quality control problem resulted in a modulus of rupture
of 600 lb/in2. How would the design life of the pavement change?

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1. A tire carries a 5000-lb load and has a pressure of 100 lb/in2.The pavement
that the tire is on is constructed with a modulus of elasticity of 43,500
lb/in2. A deflection of 0.016 inches is observed at a point at the pavement
surface, 0.8 inches from the center of the tire load. Using the Ahlvin and
Ulery equations, what is the radial-horizontal stress at this point?

2. A wheel carrying a 6700-lb load generates a deflection of 0.035 inches, 2

inches below the center of the tire load. The contact area is measured at
80 in2 and the Poisson ratio is 0.5. Using the Ahlvin and Ulery equations,
what is the pavements modulus of elasticity?

3. A wheel load produces a circular contact radius of 3.5 inches and the
pavement material has a modulus of elasticity of 43,500 lb/in2. At a point
on the pavement surface under the center of the tire load, the radial-
horizontal stress is 87 lb/in2 and the deflection is 0.165 inches. Using the
Ahlvin and Ulery equations, what is the load applied to the wheel?

4. A pavement is 25 inches thick and has a modulus of elasticity of 36,250

lb/in2 with a Poisson ratio of 0.40. A wheel load is applied 50 inches from
the edge of the pavement. The wheels tire has a pressure of 101.5 lb/in2
and a circular contact radius of 12.7 inches. Using the Ahlvin and Ulery
equations, determine the vertical stress, radial-horizontal stress, and
deflection at a point at the bottom of the pavement, at the pavements
edge.

5. Truck A has two single axles. One axle weighs 12,000 lb and the other
weighs 23,000 lb. Truck B has an 8000-lb single axle and a 43,000-lb
tandem axle. On a flexible pavement with a 3-inch hot-mix asphalt
wearing surface, a 6-inch soil-cement base, and an 8-inch crushed stone
subbase, which truck will cause more pavement damage? (Assume
drainage coefficients are 1.0.).

6. Consider the two trucks in Problem 5. Which truck will cause more
pavement damage on a rigid pavement with a 10-inch slab?

7. A flexible pavement has a 4-inch hot-mix asphalt wearing surface, a 7-inch

dense-graded crushed stone base, and a 10-inch crushed stone subbase.
The pavement is on a soil with a resilient modulus of 5000 lb/in2.The
pavement was designed with 90% reliability, an overall standard deviation
of 0.4, and a ∆PSI of 2.0 (a TSI of 2.5).The drainage coefficients are 0.9
and 0.8 for the base and subbase, respectively. How many 25-kip single-
axle loads can be carried before the pavement reaches its TSI (with given
reliability)?

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8. A highway has the following pavement design daily traffic; 300 single axles
at 10,000 lb each,120 single axles at 18,000 lb each,100 single axles at
23,000 lb each, 100 tandem axles at 32,000 lb each, 30 single axles at
32,000 lb each, and 100 triple axles at 40,000 lb each. A flexible pavement
is designed to have 4 inches of sand-mix asphalt wearing surface, 6 inches
of soil cement base, and 7 inches of crushed stone subbase. The pavement
has a 10-year design life, a reliability of 85%, an overall standard deviation
of 0.30, drainage coefficients of 1.0, an initial PSI of 4.7, and a TSI of 2.5.
What is the minimum acceptable soil resilient modulus?

9. Consider the conditions in problem 8. Suppose the state has relaxed truck
weight limits and the impact has been to reduce the number of 18,000-lb
single-axle loads from 120 to 20 and increase the number of 32,000-lb
single-axle loads from 30 to 90 (all other traffic is unaffected). Under
these revised daily counts, what is the minimum acceptable soil resilient
modulus?

10. A flexible pavement was design for the following daily traffic with a 12-
year design life: 1300 single axles at 8,000 lb each,900 tandem axles at
15,000 lb each, 20 single axles at 40,000 lb each, and 200 tandem axles at
40,000 lb each. The highway was designed with 4 inches of hot-mix asphalt
wearing surface, 4 inches of hot-mix asphaltic base, and 8 inches of
crushed stone subbase. The reliability was 70%, overall standard deviation
was 0.5, ∆PSI was 2.0 (with a TSI of 2.5), and all drainage coefficients
were 1.0. What was the soil resilient modulus of the subgrade used in
design?

11. A flexible pavement has a structural number of 3.8 (all drainage

coefficients are equal to 1.0). The initial PSI is 4.7 and the terminal
serviceability is 2.5. The soil has a CBR of 9. The overall standard deviation
is 0.40 and the reliability is 95%. The pavement is currently designed for
1800 equivalent 18-kip single axle loads per day. If the number of 18-kip
single-axle loads were to increase by 30%, by how many years would the
pavements design life be reduced?

12. You have been asked to design a flexible pavement, and the following daily
traffic is expected for design: 5000 single axles at 10,000 lb each, 400
single axles at 24,000 lb each,1000 tandem axles at 30,000 lb each, and
100 tandem axles at 50,000 lb each. There are three lanes in the design
direction (conservative design is to be used).Reliability is 90%,overall
standard deviation is 0.40, ∆PSI is 1.8, and the design life is 15 years. The
soil has a resilient modulus of 13,750 lb/in2. If the TSI is 2.5, what is the
required structural number?

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13. A flexible pavement is designed with 5 inches of hot-mix asphalt wearing

surface, 6 inches of hot-mix asphaltic base, and 10 inches of crushed stone
sub base. All drainage coefficients are 1.0. Daily traffic is 200 passes of a
20-kip single axle, 200 passes of a 40-kip tandem axle, and 80 passes of a
22-kip single axle. If the initial minus the terminal PSI is 2.0 (the TSI is 2.5)
the soil resilient modulus is 3000 lb/in2, and the overall standard deviation
is 0.6, what is the probability(reliability) that this pavement will last 20
years before reaching its terminal serviceability?

14. A flexible pavement is designed with 4 inches of sand-mix asphalt wearing

surface, 6 inches of dense graded crushed stone base, and 8 inches of
crushed stone subbase. All drainage coefficients are 1.0. The pavement is
designed for 18-kip single-axle loads (1290 per day).The initial PSI is 4.5
and the TSI is 2.5. The soil has a resilient modulus of 12,000 lb/in2. If the
overall standard deviation is 0.40, what is the probability that this
pavement will have a PSI greater than 2.5 after 20 years?

15. A flexible pavement has a 4-inch sand-mix asphalt wearing surface, 10-
inch soil cement base, and a 10-inch crushed stone subbase. It is designed
to with stand 400 20-kip single–axle loads and 900 35-kip tandem-axle
loads per day. The subgrade CBR is 8, the overall standard deviation is
0.45, the initial PSI is 4.2, and the final PSI is 2.5. What is the probability
that this pavement will have a PSI above 2.5 after 25 years? (Drainage
coefficients are 1.0.).

16. A three-lane northbound section of interstate (with the design lane

conservatively designed) has rigid pavement (PCC) and was designed with
a 10-inch slab, 90% reliability, 700 lb/in2 concrete modulus of rupture, 4.5
million lb/in2 modulus of elasticity, 3.0 load transfer coefficient, and an
overall standard deviation of 0.35.The initial PSI is 4.6 and the TSI is 2.5.
The CBR is 2 with a drainage coefficient of 1.0. The road was designed
exclusively for trucks that have one 24-kip tandem axle and one 12-kip
single axle. It is known from weigh-in-motion scales that there have been
13 million 18-kip-equivalent single-axle loads in the entire northbound
direction of this freeway so far. If a section of flexible pavement is used
to replace a section of the PCC that was removed for utility work, what
structural number should be used so that the PCC and flexible pavements
have the same life expectancy (the new life of the flexible pavement and
the remaining life on the PCC)?

17. A tire carries a 10,000-lb load and the tires pressure is 90 lb/in2.The tire
is on a pavement with a modulus of elasticity of 4.2 million lb/in2 and a
Poisson ratio of 0.25. The modulus of subgrade reaction is 150 lb/in3. If,
for edge loading, the edge stress is 218.5 lb/in2, what is the pavements
slab thickness? (Use the revised Westerggard equations.)

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18. A pavement has an 8-inch slab with a modulus of elasticity of 3.5 million
lb/in2 and a Poisson ratio of o.30. The radius of relative stiffness is
30.106.A 12,000-lb wheel load is applied (interior loading) and produces
an interior deflection of 0.008195 inches. What is the interior stress? (Use
the revised Westergaard equations.)

19. A pavement has a 10-inch slab with a Poisson ratio of 0.36. The pavement
is on a subgrade with a soil resilient modulus of 250lb/in3.A 17,000-lb load
is applied (corner loading), and a1 is 7 inches. If the corner deflection is
0.05 inches, what is the modulus of elasticity of the pavement? (Use the
revised Westergaard equations.)

20. A 12-inch pavement slab has a modulus of elasticity of 4 million lb/in2 and
a Poisson ratio of 0.40. The pavement is on a soil with a modulus of
subgrade reaction equal to 300 lb/in3. A wheel load of 9000 lb is applied
and the radius of circular load is 5 inches. What would the interior and
edge stresses be, and what would the interior and edge slab deflections
be? (Use the revised Westergaard equations.)

21. A rigid pavement is designed with an 11-inch slab thickness, 90% reliability,
Ec=4 million lb/in2,modulus of rupture of 600 lb/in2,modulus of subgrade
reaction of 150 lb/in3, a 2.8 load transfer coefficient, initial PSI of 4.8,
final PSI of 2.5,overall standard deviation of o.35, and a drainage
coefficient of 0.8. The pavement has a 20-year design life. The pavement
has three lanes and is conservatively designed for trucks that have one
20,000-lbsingle axle, one 26,000-lb tandem axle, and one 34,000-lb triple
axel. What is the daily estimated truck traffic on the three lanes?

22. A rigid pavement is on a highway with two lanes in one direction, and the
pavement is conservatively designed. The pavement has an 11-inch slab
with a modulus of elasticity of 5,000,000 lb/in2, and it is on a soil with a
CBR of 25.The design drainage coefficient is 1.0, the overall standard
deviation is 0.3, and the load transfer coefficient is 3.0. The pavement
was designed to last 20 years (initial PSI of 4.7 and a final PSI of 2.5) with
95% reliability carrying trucks with one 18-Kip single axle and one 28-Kip
tandem axle. However, after the pavement was designed, one more lane
was added in the design direction (conservative design still used,) and the
weight limits on the trucks were increased to a 20-Kip single and a 34-Kip
tandem axle (the slab thickness was unchanged from the original two-lane
design with lighter trucks).If a warm storm has caused the drainage
coefficient to drop to 0.8, how long will the pavement last with the new
loading and the additional lane (same volume of truck traffic)?

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23. You have been asked to design the pavement for an access highway to a
major truck terminal. The design daily truck traffic consists of the
following: 80 single axles at 22,500 lb each, 570 tandem axles at 25,000
lb each, 50 tandem axles at 39,000 lb each, and 80 triple axles at 48,000
lb each. The highway is to be designed with rigid pavement having a
modulus of rupture of 600 lb/in2 and a modulus of elasticity of 5 million
lb/in2.The reliability is to be 95%, the overall standard deviation is 0.4,
the drainage coefficient is 0.9, ∆PSI is 1.7 (with a TSI of 2.5), and the load
transfer coefficient is 3.2. The modulus of subgrade reaction is 200 lb/in3.
If a 20-year design life is to be used, determine the required slab thickness.

24. A rigid pavement is being designed with the same parameters as used in
Problem 10. The modulus of subgrade reaction is 300 lb/in3 and the slab
thickness is determined to be 8.5 inches. The load transfer coefficient is
3.0, the drainage coefficient is 1.0, and the modulus of elasticity is 4
million lb/in2. What is the design modulus of rupture? (Assume that any
parameters not given in this problem are the same as those given in
Problem 10.)

25. A rigid pavement is designed with a 10-inch slab, an EC of 6 million lb/in2,

a concrete modulus of rapture of 432 lb/in2, a load transfer coefficient of
3.0, an initial PSI of 4.7, and a terminal serviceability index of 2.5. The
overall standard deviation is 0.35,the modulus of subgrade reaction is
190lb/in3,and a reliability of 90% is used along with a drainage coefficient
of 0.8.The pavement is designed assuming traffic is composed entirely of
trucks (100 per day). Each truck has one 20-kip single axle and one 42-kip
tandem axle (the effect of all other vehicles is ignored).A section of this
road is to be replaced (due to different subgrade characteristics) with a
flexible pavement having a structural number of 4 and is expected to last
the same number of years as the rigid pavement. What is the assumed soil
resilient modulus? (Assume all other factors are the same as for the rigid
pavement.)

26. A four-lane northbound section of interstate has rigid pavement and was
designed with an 8-inch slab, 90% reliability, a 700 lb/in2 concrete
modulus of rupture, a 5 million lb/in2 modulus of elasticity, a 3.0 load
transfer coefficient, and an overall standard deviation of 0.3. The initial
PSI is 4.6 and the TSI is 2.5. The pavement was conservatively designed
(assuming the upper limit of the W18 design lane load) to last 20 years,
and the CBR is 25 with a drainage coefficient of 1.0. A design mistake was
made that ignored 1000 total northbound (daily) passes of trucks with 22-
kip single and 30-kip tandem axles. What slab thickness should have been
used?

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27. Consider the loading conditions in Problem 8. A rigid pavement is used

with a modulus of subgrade reaction of 200 lb/in3, a slab thickness of 8
inches, a load transfer coefficient of 3.2, a modulus of elasticity of 5
million lb/in2, a modulus of rupture of 600 lb/in2, and a drainage
coefficient of 1.0. How many years would the pavement be expected to
last using the same reliability as in Problem 8? (Assume all other factors
are as in Problem 8)

28. Consider Problem 27. How long would the rigid pavement be expected to
last if you wanted to be 95% sure that the pavement would stay above the
2.5 TSI?

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